Friday, May 24, 2013

Australia Seminar Highlights New Developments in Fieldbus

The Fieldbus Foundation, in cooperation with our supplier sponsors and the Institute for Instrumentation and Control Australia (IICA), held very successful end user and sales force training seminars at the Rydges Hotel in Perth on May 15 and 16 The seminars offered a detailed look into new developments in FOUNDATION technology and what it takes to execute a successful fieldbus project. Among the presenters were several of the key fieldbus end users in Australia from companies such as the KJV Gorgon oil and gas joint venture in Northwest Australia to leading Australian ammonium nitrate producer CSBP.

Australia was one of the first countries to adopt FOUNDATION fieldbus, and the end users there have learned a lot about what it takes to make a project successful. Nirmal Nandakumar from KJV Gorgon and Vinod Verma froom CSBP both shared many valuable insights. Fieldbus Foundation marketing manager Larry O’Brien shared the current market landscape and new developments in FOUNDATION fieldbus technology. Jonas Berge of Emerson Process Management provided a good presentation on what the Fieldbus Foundation and its member suppliers are doing to make fieldbus technology easier to use.

The seminar also featured several good presentations on how to use and implement fieldbus technology. Andreas Agostin of MTL provided a thorough presentation on best practices for FOUNDATION fieldbus installation and commissioning. Arasu Thanigai, business development manager of Pepperl+Fuchs, covered fieldbus installation practices, and Jonathon Soanes of Endress+Hauser did a very good presentation on how FOUNDATION fieldbus turns diagnostic data into useful information.

Day 2 featured a sales force training seminar with unique content specifically directed at salespeople, including presentations from Ambrose Hagan of CSBP on popular myths and misconceptions about fieldbus. Allen Tighe of SEACOVE Systems discussed the value of FOUNDATION fieldbus from the end user perspective.